Photo: Dwight Burdette · CC BY 3.029% of Ypsilanti’s residents are college students
Only 7% stay in Ypsilanti for work; outside it, Ann Arbor is the main destination (27%, 6 miles). Jobs and income earn Ypsilanti C+; getting around on foot earns it A+. Family incomes here are lower than in 77% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Income, poverty and work: Ypsilanti’s grade explained
On family income, poverty and job access, Ypsilanti is better than 40% of U.S. towns, #483 of 701 in Michigan. Job access by car holds Ypsilanti’s grade up (ahead of 88% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (18.4%, U.S. 11.9%).
Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (20% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 18.4%, against 24.8% for all residents. Unemployment (8.5%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($72,822), since student households pull the household median down ($46,588).
The commuting and job counts on this page are Census LEHD 2021: Michigan reports later than other states, so its newest year is two years behind.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Ypsilanti could be anywhere from C to B−.
Who commutes out of Ypsilanti, and who commutes in
On a workday 6,985 residents head out to work, 558 work right here, and 5,701 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.83 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2021, primary jobs.
Where Ypsilanti’s working residents head each day
Where Ypsilanti clocks in
27% of workers
5% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Ypsilanti is a services town
6,259 jobs are based in Ypsilanti.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ypsilanti, 2011 → 2021: 6,888 → 6,259. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2021.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Ypsilanti’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Ypsilanti, about 23 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ypsilanti workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 8,348 commuters (the 17% who work from home are left out). Across Michigan: 86% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Ypsilanti
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2021.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Ypsilanti is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 10,099 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 52% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 10.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 94% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 13.7% of Ypsilanti households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 10% of Ypsilanti’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 14,000 to 27,000, Ypsilanti ranks 1,356th of 1,860 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ada Township MI | 14,769 | $168K | 2.0% | 0.7% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Southfield Township MI | 14,671 | $185K | 4.7% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 63 | Berkley MI | 15,145 | $116K | 4.5% | 2.2% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,354 | Coolspring Township IN | 15,408 | $62K | 17.0% | 4.0% | 13% | C+ |
| 1,355 | Pace FL | 26,282 | $81K | 12.2% | 5.5% | 7% | C+ |
| 1,356 | Ypsilanti MI | 19,766 | $47K | 24.8% | 8.5% | 7% | C+ |
| 1,357 | Athens OH | 25,313 | $38K | 40.0% | 8.2% | 34% | C+ |
| 1,358 | Marion IL | 17,148 | $57K | 13.3% | 3.5% | 40% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,860 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Ypsilanti, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
Ypsilanti and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Ypsilanti Township (3%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Ypsilanti workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ypsilanti | – | C+ | A+ | 23 min | $46,588 |
| Ypsilanti Township | 3% | C+ | A | 25 min | $69,716 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Ypsilanti’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2021, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Students. 29% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Ypsilanti: questions
What is the median household income in Ypsilanti?
$46,588 (±$5,055) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ypsilanti?
24.8% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 18.4%. Michigan: 13.2%.
How long is the commute from Ypsilanti?
23 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ypsilanti work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ann Arbor (27%, 6 mi), Pittsfield Township (5%, 5 mi), Detroit (4%, 28 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Ypsilanti walkable?
Ypsilanti is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 13.0 out of 20, and 18% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ypsilanti without a car?
10% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. 52% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ypsilanti, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ypsilanti
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2021, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.